NAMA case: Sinn Fein worker felt ‘used’ over messages sent to Jamie Bryson

Thomas Gerard O'Hara is one of three men currently on trial in Belfast Crown Court on charges arising from a Stormont Committee meeting which took place in September 2015.

At the relevant time, Daithi McKay was MLA for north Antrim and Chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee which was investigating how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

On September 23, 2015, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson gave evidence at the Committee where he named the DUP's Peter Robinson as being one of five people set to benefit financially from the NAMA deal.

The non-jury trial has already heard evidence regarding a number of messages which were exchanged on Twitter prior to the meeting between Mr Bryson and Mr McKay, and from Mr Bryson to the Twitter account of Mr O'Hara.

It's the Crown's case that due to this series of messages exchanged, there was manipulation of how Mr Bryson's evidence was presented at the Committee, and that the rules of this Committee were subverted to cause political embarrassment to Mr Robinson who, in September 2015, occupied the position of First Minister.

After he was called to give evidence at the trial today, Mr O'Hara was questioned by his barrister Des Fahy KC about the messages.

The self-employed plasterer told the hearing he was dyslexic and could "just about" read and write.

He said he met Mr McKay around 2006 "through Sinn Fein", that he helped him in his constituency canvassing and putting up posters and there were occasions when they met socially.

When asked what his opinion of Mr McKay was at that time, he replied "I thought he was a friend."

Mr Fahy then asked his client about events in September 2015 and whether he was aware of Twitter messages between Mr Bryson and Mr McKay. He said he wasn't aware of the messages and was not told about them.

Mr O'Hara was then asked if he was contacted by Mr McKay and he said he was and that Mr McKay asked him to do a favour. When asked what this favour was, Mr O'Hara replied: "He said, 'I'll send you messages and you send them to Jamie Bryson via Twitter'."

Mr Fahy asked if Mr McKay told him why he wanted him to do that, to which Mr O'Hara said: "He said to me that he wanted to get information....and I said to him 'Daithi you are mad'."

Asked what he meant by that, Mr O'Hara replied: "Jamie Bryson, like, he's not the biggest lover of the Shinners. It didn't make sense."

Mr Fahy then asked what Mr McKay said to him after he told him it was mad, and he replied: "He said to me 'don't worry about it, it's nothing that serious. It's nothing criminal.'"

When asked if he knew of Mr Bryson in 2015, Mr O'Hara said he did and that he was "a controversial person on Twitter. He was a loyalist blogger like."

Mr Fahy then asked his client if he had "anything to do" with Mr Bryson on Twitter and he said "I followed him.... I followed everybody."

The defence barrister then asked Mr O'Hara "in September 2015, apart from following him on Twitter, had you ever met Jamie Bryson?" and he replied "no."

When asked "had you ever spoken to him?", Mr O'Hara said "no", and when asked "to this day, have you ever spoken to him", he again said "no."

Mr O'Hara was then asked "at any point in 2015 or afterwards, did you enter into an agreement with Jamie Bryson or Daithi McKay to do anything at all?", he replied "no."

Mr Fahy then asked his client about the wording and content of the messages sent from his account, and when asked "who wrote every single word of those messages?", Mr O'Hara said "Daithi McKay."

He said Mr McKay sent the messages to his phone and that he then cut and pasted the messages and sent them from his phone to Mr Bryson via Twitter.

He was queried asked about a specific message and when he was asked if he read it before he sent it to Mr Bryson, he said "I couldn't read it".

When asked why, Mr O'Hara replied "there were too many big words in it, I couldn't understand it."

Mr O'Hara was also asked if, in 2015, he considered Mr McKay as a friend and he said he did.

Mr Fahy then asked "sitting here in 2025, do you still think of him as a friend?" and he answered "No, I think he used me in this here whole thing."

Also called to give evidence was an educational psychologist who examined Mr O'Hara.

The expert confirmed Mr O'Hara had a "moderate" learning difficulty, that his cognitive functioning was low, and that he had the reading age of an eight-year old and the spelling ability of a seven-year old.

After Mr O'Hara concluded giving his evidence, the barrister representing Mr McKay told Judge Gordon Kerr KC he would not be giving evidence.

Mr O'Hara (40) from Lisnahunshin Road in Cullybackey and 35-year old Jamie Bryson from Rosepark have both denied a charge of conspiring together and with Daithi McKay to commit an offence of misconduct in a public office on dates between September 1 and 24, 2015.

Mr McKay, who is 43 and from Loughan Road in Dunnamanagh, has been charged with misconduct in a public office on September 23, 2015.

All three men have denied the charges levelled against them.

All evidence in the trial has now been heard and the case has been re-listed for final submissions next Monday.

Judge Kerr told all those present that he plans to give his judgement in the case by the end of this month.